After I published the previous "Thank You, Marcus Lattimore" blog post, I assumed it would add some form of closure to this ordeal for me emotionally. I was wrong. The first five hours it was on the internet it got read by over ten thousand different people. To no one's surprise, many folks shared my feelings about Marcus.

If you haven't read that first blog you need to do that in order to put this one in the proper context. Do that by following this link.

I wrote the piece not knowing whether Marcus or his family would ever read it. I actually assumed they probably wouldn't, and haven't heard anything to lead me to believe they have, so that didn't affect me. I wrote the piece for my own pyscho-therapy. Part of me truly felt like if I put in writing my inner most feelings about Marcus Lattimore that it would somehow make my heart stop hurting for him and his family. It didn't. It did, however, create something all together different inside me. It created a mission!

A mission to organize the Gamecock fans into action. Here is what I am thinking.
For the sake of this article I will keep these numbers simple. Let's pretend there are 40 weeks worth of work outs between now and the next time Marcus Lattimore can actually practice football again at full-speed. I made these numbers up because no official report has been published as to the extent of Lattimore's injuries yet. But for the sake of this article let's assume 40 weeks.

With 40 weeks of work-outs, let's assume there are 10 rehab sessions a week. There may be more or less, I truly have no clue. I'm a former kicker and now comedian, remember? But let's assume 10 rehab sessions per week. Let's also assume that half of these will be sincerely grueling for Marcus and therefore need to be kept private. But that leaves 5 work-outs sessions per week for 40 weeks which could feasibly be witnessed by the public. Do you feel where I am going with this yet? I'm guessing you do. (If you read the first article like I said you should have this would make sense.)

Therefore, that leaves us 200 work-outs between now and the next time Marcus can actually practice full-speed. (Again, these are hypothetical numbers at this point, could be more could be less.) My thought is this. Can we divide these 200 work-outs between the 80 thousand some odd folks who regularly attend the games and help encourage Marcus by actually showing up and cheering him on?

My thought is if a church group can organize three full months of hot cooked dinners for parents of newborns, then certainly we can organize how to attend Marcus Lattimore's rehab sessions.

Here is what I am picturing. Each fan signs up well in advance for one appointed time. We cap each work-out at a maximum number of attendees based on feedback that we obtain from the training staff. (Meaning, if we can do a dozen fans we'll do a dozen fans, but if we have to only do one because of what the doctors say, we'll only do one.)

That fan, or group of fans, then makes a few posters and bakes some healthy protein cookies or something. They attend their workout in a small private group escorted to the rehab session by a University staffer. They spend five to ten minutes getting pictures with Marcus before and after the work-out. During the work-out they clap and cheer for his weight-lifting or his running. That's it. This happens five times a week for Marcus and he feels Gamecock Nation behind him during his recovery.

We then form a facebook page dedicated to only these visits so the pictures can be posted and comments placed on them to encourage his family back home. The facebook page could also serve as a reminder if Marcus ever gets frustrated.

Obviously, logistically, a few million things would have to happen between now and the first organized session, but what do you think?

My thought is the only problem we would face is that we would have far too many people wanting to do it than we could handle. If that is the only problem we would face, then I vote for trying to make this happen!

I will admit I have no connections that could pull this thing off, but you know what I do have? Zero pride or fear walking up into the offices and trying to talk to someone. Especially if I have the backing of my blog website with hundreds (or even better, thousands) of comments backing me up.

So what I need from you is for you to pass the article along to folks who you think would be interested in signing up for a work-out session. Get them to post a comment here about it. If enough folks post comments here, we might be able to build enough momentum to actually gain a meeting of some sort with the athletic department.

Who knows? All I know is the thought that Marcus would know he's not alone helps me start to see the horizon for him and his family and that makes me happy.

As I finished typing this blog post, I started thinking about the implications this would have on the other team members who were also going through rehab on their injuries.What I immediately thought was they could work out during the same sessions and therefore the audience in attendance would get to cheer on everyone who was doing rehab that session, and not just Marcus. Either way, I think it's a great idea and worth pursuing.

From coach to comedian: Marty Simpson is a former USA Today high school All-American and collegiate Academic All-Conference player for USC who scored the Gamecocks' first 6 points in the SEC. During 8 years as a high school varsity coach, Simpson led his team to the state finals and saw one player advance to set an NFL rookie record. Simpson now divides his time between his family, running a multimedia company named Blue-Eyed Panda and getting the same pre-game jitters by performing stand-up comedy nationwide.

If the drs feel this could help Marcus and other athletes, I'm all in, too. But I have a question. Is there any way we could petition the NCAA to be allowed to establish a fund that would help all USC athletes who are injured during practice/games and have extended hospital stays and there are significant expenses incurred by their families? I just feel so for Marcus' mom. I know she wants to be with Marcus, but can she afford it?? I feel very helpless at this point.

MelodyI'm ALL in!!! I also agree with anonymous and would like to start a fund for injured USC athletes.What if every fan wore a #21 T-shirt/Jersey Saturday to the game?I would love to see the stand full of #21!!!

I am all for this! Not sure how feasible it would be or even if Marcus would want people to be there cheering during a rehab session, but if the stars aligned and this could happen I would jump at the chance! BTW, I was literally in tears after reading the first post because I feel exactly the same way. Particularly loved the Moses and Obi Wan analogies since the Bible and Star Wars are two of my favorite things!

Hey Marty. My family lives just 5 minutes from Clemson's Death Valley but we are, and always have been, true Carolina fans. We are definitely in and will be honored to help Marcus and this "rehab mission" in any way needed.